Seth Rollins didn’t beat Bron Breakker clean inside a steel cage for nothing. That win looks like it had one clear purpose: getting Rollins ready for Roman Reigns.
Rollins picked up the cage match victory at WWE Night of Champions, and the finish immediately raised eyebrows because Bron didn’t lose through a cheap escape, a distraction, or some messy interference. He got pinned clean in the middle of the ring.
That was the whole issue Bryan Alvarez brought up on Wrestling Observer Radio. After watching Rollins beat Bron, Alvarez said the only direction that made sense was Seth moving on to Roman Reigns.
“My presumption when the show is over is that Oba Femi is going to kill Sami Zayn at SummerSlam and win that title, and Seth Rollins is going to wrestle Roman Reigns, because I can’t think of any other reason that Seth Rollins should have beaten Bron Breakker clean in this cage match.”
Dave Meltzer agreed right away, then added that Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins had been in the works for that show for a while. Meltzer also noted that Roman vs. Gunther had originally been the direction before WWE changed course.
“Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins had been planned for a long time for that show. So, you know, once they moved Gunther, because originally it was gonna be Roman Reigns and Gunther, yeah, my impression when Seth Rollins won was that he was wrestling Roman Reigns.”
That is the key piece here. Rollins didn’t just survive Bron. He beat him clean, and Meltzer’s read was that WWE did it because Seth is being moved into Roman’s path. When they got to the cage match itself, Meltzer said the match was good, but he didn’t like the weapons being brought in before the cage was shut. He felt Seth and Bron didn’t need all that extra stuff.
“The bringing the weapons in before the match and then shutting the cage, it’s like, especially because the weapons really didn’t play into it. I mean, yeah, they fell in chairs and stuff in some spots, but it’s like, you know, I just thought that when you do that, the match started as a cartoon. And it’s like, this didn’t need to be a cartoon. This should have been just a wrestling match.”
Then Meltzer got right back to the only reason Seth winning made sense. In his view, Rollins beating Bron only works if Roman Reigns is next.
“And, you know, Seth won. And I mean, again, the only reason Seth winning makes any sense is he’s going to be wrestling Roman Reigns imminently. I mean, if that’s the case, then the result makes perfect sense. So I think that it’s pretty much got to be that way.”
Alvarez wasn’t letting WWE off easy either. He pointed out that this wasn’t some protected finish for Bron. Rollins beat him straight up.
“Just a clean pin in the middle of the ring. There was no interference. There was no nothing.”
Meltzer joked about WWE actually having a cage match end without the usual nonsense.
“Wasn’t that amazing that they had a cage match with no interference?”
Alvarez still didn’t love it, because Bron has been positioned as a major piece of WWE’s future. He made it clear that using Bron to heat up Rollins was a problem for him.
“It actually upset me. If Seth Rollins, at 42 years old, is going to be beating Bron Breakker, and this is the rubber match, by the way. They split matches.”
Meltzer’s defense was simple. If Seth isn’t getting something major out of this win, then the booking is bad. But if Seth is being built for Roman Reigns, then the clean win did exactly what WWE needed it to do.
“So if Seth Rollins does not get a championship match out of this, then yes, it’s absolutely stupid. If he’s getting a championship match out of this, then it was exactly what it should be. Exactly. Why have a bunch of interference? Why have a bunch of gunk when you’re trying to build up a guy for Roman Reigns?”
Alvarez’s issue was not just that Seth won. It was that Bron Breakker had to be the guy taking that loss when he has been pushed as one of WWE’s future faces.
“My main issue is the guy they’re building up for Roman Reigns. It’s nothing against the guy. It’s Seth Rollins. Bron Breakker was supposed to be champion at Mania originally, and he’s here losing to Seth. Sh*t happens over and over again.”
Meltzer said if WWE picked Seth Rollins for Roman Reigns, then Seth had to win. Having Rollins lose to Bron and then still walk into a title-level match with Roman would make no sense.
“If they were going to go with Bron Breakker against Roman Reigns, then Bron Breakker should have won. This was the decision. They had Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins planned, and they wanted to get there. So that was the decision. In the long run, I mean, it’s just again, you can always heat up Bron Breakker. You can always get wins. It doesn’t kill anyone to lose when the guy’s going for the title.”
Meltzer also said WWE could have had Bron win and still tried to send Seth toward Roman, but that would have made the booking look backward.
“I mean, you could have had Bron Breakker win and then Seth goes for the title. It would make no sense. They could still do it because, usually, when they book, they don’t give a shit about that stuff. But when they do, you know, I mean, this was just basic booking.”
Alvarez then asked why WWE had to use Bron Breakker at all. If the goal was getting Seth to Roman Reigns, he wanted to know why another name couldn’t have taken the loss.
“Can you have basic booking where you don’t beat Bron Breakker to get that match with Roman Reigns? There’s somebody else. Maybe not Bron.”
Meltzer said the logic is obvious. If WWE wants Seth Rollins to look like a real threat to Roman Reigns, he has to beat someone strong. Alvarez cut that off, because he wasn’t asking for Rollins to beat someone at the bottom of the card. His point was that Bron Breakker didn’t need to be the sacrifice.
“Well, in theory, when you’re in this situation, you want to beat the strongest guy. You want to beat the strongest. If you beat somebody, if you beat Austin Theory…”
“Well, not Austin Theory, but for God’s sake, there has to be somebody besides Bron Breakker.”
So this looks pretty clear. Seth Rollins beat Bron Breakker clean because WWE is lining him up for Roman Reigns. That was Meltzer’s read, and the finish backs it up. You don’t pin Bron clean in a cage just to send Seth into some random side feud.
Now WWE has to follow through. If Rollins gets Roman Reigns next, then Bron’s loss had a purpose. If WWE goes in another direction, then they just cooled off one of their strongest future stars for no real payoff.
What do you think WWE should do with Seth Rollins after that win over Bron Breakker? Should Rollins go straight to Roman Reigns, or did WWE make the wrong call by having Bron take that clean loss? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
